Mika555

Do you have any thoughts on this?

I suppose that it boils down to the following question: Have they really thought the mythology through? Do they know everything about Unown and the Johto legendaries, as well as Mew and Arceus? It's easy to invent mysteries and have other people ponder about them, but coming up with interesting answers is far harder.

Unfortunately, it seems that Game Freak are more comfortable with focusing on lesser mysteries like Giovanni's and now N's. I suspect that they haven't figured out how to make Pokémon stand out and that it is easier for them to write the story around human antagonists, who really aren't all that unique or particularly interesting.

Come to think of it, the human characters in Pokémon leave a lot to be desired. How many of them actually marvel at the Pokémon universe, as opposed to taking it for granted? Even the regional professors don't ask the right questions. The Ruins of Alph researchers and Tin Tower sages are the only ones that left an impresson on me.

I really hope that Game Freak will get tired of expanding horizontally at some point, and will opt to go in the vertical direction instead. The story needs more substance; there should be a reward for following all the games to date, and yet there hasn't been one since Generation II.

I've recently familiarized myself with the mythology of the Zelda games. I won't get into specifics because you may or may not know it, but suffice to say that the plot is a very important element of that series. I envy Zelda fans for being able to look forward to new games that are almost always linked in some way to their predecessors. In particular, the upcoming entry for the Wii is a prequel to the entire series and is going to shed light on the core mythology.

I suppose that the Zelda games do have their down points in that the same setting (the land of Hyrule) is used almost invariably (albeit in different time periods), with the main characters being different reincarnations of those from the very original game released in 1985. At the same time, the series has 15 unique games and only a select few "enhanced" versions and spin-offs. In comparison, the main Pokémon series has a measly number of five original stories to speak of.

The Japanese names aren't very different from the English ones; they're derived from actual words (mostly tree names). I think it's fair to say that Game Freak thought of those names before they came up with the story for the Ruins of Alph.

If anything, I would have thought that the names for the seven Tanoby Chambers might represent something deeper, but they're merely plant names (in all languages). In Japanese, the chamber names allude to the Festival of Seven Herbs, which as far as I can tell isn't very mysterious at all. Personally, I don't think that Game Freak are particularly creative when it comes to choosing names.

It's also encouraging to know that the only reason Black and White have so little ties to previous generations is that they were designed to be different from the other DS games. This means that the Generation VI games, being released for a new system, wouldn't have to put minimal focus on the old Pokémon and characters to feel like a new experience.

Although I dislike patterns due to their misleading nature, it is obvious that even-numbered generations have been different from odd-numbered ones in terms of how they incorporated the older Pokémon. I don't think we need more than 110 new Pokémon per a generation provided that said generation only lasts three years and that the majority of added species are interesting. Specifically, the number of legendaries needs to go down and the legends should stop feeling so out of place; it is high time that Game Freak expanded the existing mythology instead.

The fact that the DS only has about two more years of lifetime makes me hopeful that Generation VI will be released in three years, as opposed to four. By then, the 3DS' price will have gone down. If Game Freak released Black and White's third and/or Ruby and Sapphire remakes for the 3DS, it would push the next generation farther away. Luckily, there is really no sign that either of those two scenarios will happen; chances are that the third version will also be released for the DS and there won't be any remakes.

If Black and White were 3DS games, then for one thing they wouldn't be released until 2012. Generation IV would have to have been dramatically different to last that long without boring everyone to tears. Simply put, Nintendo did a better job on the DS than Game Freak did on their recent games.

I, too, had thought that Lyra could be Kris up until the games were released. Then I saw what a poor role Ethan and Lyra were given as NPCs, and so I stopped thinking of Lyra as Kris (at least Ethan is far more likely to be the canon player character). Technically, Game Freak only said that Lyra was designed from scratch, but I would think they would have said that she was still supposed to be viewed as Kris if that had been their intention. Now I think that Kris is the unknown trainer that was given Elm's third starter in HGSS, but I don't know if that weird reference was meant to foreshadow anything.

Although I have gripes with many of Game Freak's decisions, releasing Black and White for the DS worked in their favor. The 3DS is an expensive system that few people are going to afford right away; forcing fans to buy that system just to play the newest Pokémon game (which wouldn't capitalize on 3D no matter what) would be neither fair nor strategic.

By the time the next generation is released, I could definitely see Game Freak focusing on older Pokémon again, giving them evolutions in much the same way they did in Generation IV. I hope that unlike in the Sinnoh games, the references to previous generations will be relevant to the plot. All I have to go on is the blatant foreshadowing at the end of the Sinjoh Ruins event; I hope that that line wasn't added to the script on a mere whim.

We don't really need to go back to Johto, but a return trip to the Ruins of Alph could easily be made possible if the Sinjoh Ruins were seen again. Beyond that, it would also nice to be see Ecruteak City in a different time period (even in the future, seeing as HGSS hinted at Brass Tower being rebuilt). Considering how close Ecruteak is to the Ruins of Alph, I could see just those two sites being revisited.

As for who the Unown's enemy could be, the statues in both the Ruins of Alph and the Sinjoh Ruins depict an ancient Pokémon. While the statues in the Ruins of Alph appear to be based on Rhydon, the ones in the Sinjoh Ruins don't; either way, I doubt that the statues would even be mentioned by the research staff (much less by the ancient clan) if they really did depict Rhydon. Considering that Arceus was added to the picture ten years after Unown and the Ruins of Alph had seen their debut, I wouldn't be surprised to see yet another side to the story.

In fact, I find it likely that the next generation will bring us back to the land of Kanto and Johto, and more specifically to the region of the Sinjoh Ruins. Now, I thought that this would happen in this generation and was obviously proven wrong, but Game Freak went on record as saying that they steered away from previous generations strictly because they needed to make Generation V stand out despite being released for the DS.

I think that the Unown had a part in the Brass Tower incident. In fact, if even Arceus couldn't give birth to the Dragon trio by itself, it is fairly possible that Ho-Oh needed the Unown's help to resurrect the legendary beasts, as well. If so, Suicune must have been endowed with the ability to understand the Unown's cryptic communication so that it could protect them whenever necessary (see Crystal's opening); the Unown presumably resorted to interfering with nature because their followers had all died by that point.

I suspect that the Unown have a very good reason to reject the outside world: They have foes that wish to harm them. Both the Brass Tower and the temple above the Sinjoh Ruins were destroyed... Could there be a connection? Did the Ruins of Alph clan know that danger surrounded them, which is why they separated themselves from the Unown so that at least they would be kept safe?

That said, the story behind Ecruteak should have been told by now. The Unown's influence extends everywhere, but I can't say the same for Ecruteak's legends.

It is quite interesting that the Kimono Girls inherited their rituals from their ancestors that had lived in the Sinjoh Ruins. My theory is that a segment of the Ruins of Alph clan eventually returned to Johto, but chose to settle down in Ecruteak, since they still believed that their presence might endanger the Unown. Those people were the ones that built the Tin and Brass Towers; after all, the clan did know of Ho-Oh as evidenced by its drawing in the Ruins of Alph. The question is: What made them rever Ho-Oh, and possibly Lugia, instead of Arceus? Did they follow the Unown's wishes in doing that? This could very well be related to Suicune's unexplained bond with the Unown... Perhaps the Unown needed to create the right circumstances allowing for Suicune to be born.

Thanks to Crystal, we have some idea of Johto's history:

1500 years ago: The Ruins of Alph were built by an ancient civilization as a habitat for the Unown; they learned to live in harmony together.
Unspecified point in time: The ancient clan left the ruins so that another group of people wouldn't come after the Unown.
700 years ago: The Tin and Brass Towers were built to foster friendship and hope between Pokémon and people.
150 years ago: The Brass Tower burned down after being struck by a mysterious fire. Ho-Oh resurrected three nameless Pokémon that had perished; the five legendary creatures fled from Ecruteak, with the trust between people and Pokémon being shattered.

I would have loved to see any one of those time periods through Celebi's time travel. But considering that the Sinjoh Ruins event did allude to the Ruins of Alph's history, I feel that what we really need to understand the full story is nothing less than an entire plot dealing with just that.

As for Arceus and the Unown, I feel that their story will have to be revisited in Generation VI. The Sinjoh Ruins ended in a very tantalizing way: "Unown, the Ruins of Alph, and Arceus... The mystery deepens. It has made me even more inquisitive! I will one day solve all the mysteries!" If Game Freak didn't mean anything by that, then the word "troll" comes to mind. I've been wrong about their intentions many times before, but this is one case where either they were deliberately misleading, or they had something in mind for the future.

At least the timeline has finally progressed past the Generation II period. Generation V seems to be all about taking a break from the older Pokémon, but I'd imagine that things will be very different come next generation. I suspect that Unown and Arceus weren't the only primordial creatures that existed prior to the creation of the Pokémon universe, and we need to be presented with all the puzzle pieces before the mysteries can be settled.

Did we really need to get confirmation about Giovanni and the rival through a time travel event? There could have been any number of reasons for Giovanni's failure to respond to Team Rocket, and there could have been an event involving Giovanni and the rival at the end of the games. The Celebi event shouldn't have been wasted on something that wasn't really a mystery in the first place; instead, the event should have been used to uncover the truth behind the Burned Tower after so long. I'm beginning to wonder if I misinterpreted the dialogue in Crystal, which I took to mean as saying that the beasts used to be different species. The text is quite clear on that, but shouldn't we have seen the original species by now? It really bothers me to think that Game Freak created Phione and various expendable Pokémon instead of what would been an extremely interesting tie-in to Generation II and the remakes.

The following Pokémon feature was too gimmicky, as evidenced by the fact that few people care about its absence from Black and White. Why did Game Freak make it so that Pokémon could only pick up accessories, as opposed to berries (whose trees were removed) and actually useful items? I suppose they didn't want to render the Pick Up ability obsolete, but no one would have cared and it would have been easy enough to use different items. Other gameplay conveniences could have included making Pokémon gain EVs by walking without necessarily battling (in other words, they would have gained EVs from the player's other Pokémon by watching them battle).

But more importantly, why did all the walking Pokémon have such limited interactions that made them look like simple animals? In particular, couldn't Lugia and Ho-Oh have had some sort of communication with the player at least once? Are they really nothing more than battle weapons once caught?

One thing that I find inexcusable is that the focus on Ecruteak's history was dumbed down from Crystal. I was excited when it was announced that the Kimono Girls would have a new role, but now I can safely say that the Tin Tower Sages were a lot more informative and insightful. The Kimono Girls merely described Ho-Oh and Lugia as ancient deities, failing to address their backstory or why Ethan/Lyra was destined to meet them. In Crystal, Ho-Oh's return was a result of the player having touched the souls of the legendary beasts. In the remakes, the player couldn't summon Ho-Oh/Lugia without the Kimono Girls performing their dance... Why was that?

Suicune's importance was reduced to the point where the subplot seemed quite forced. Unlike in Crystal, Suicune appeared desperate to entrust itself to Ethan/Lyra; Eusine didn't mention any connection to Ho-Oh (let alone to the Unown), and the games only made one vague reference to the Burned Tower legend.

Were you as disappointed in HGSS, the games, as I was? I won't compare them to the manga, but there certainly was a lot of wasted potential there, as well.